Saving a little money

Now that folks are starting to realize that it is not just them, we are all broke, maybe we can start changing some wasteful practices. Such as paying one set of people to take care of our elders, and another set of people to take care of our children. Both functions were part of the family experience up until about 60 years ago, the elders taking care of the children, teaching them culture, history, manners, and social skills, until the children were old enough to start taking care of the elders, when they became infirm. Today, we seperate these two groups, so that many young children never get to know really old people, and our elders pining their days away wishing that they could spend time with children, Any children.

Many of the people who have been placed in assisted living or nursing facilities are alert, active, and interested in what is going on around them, they simply are in need of care which family members can’t, or won’t, provide. They are capable of spending an hour or two a few days a week helping to watch over a group of children. Not by themselves, of course, but with the assistance of young, able bodied people. And not in the common room of the facility catering to the elders, but in a special, home-like setting, perhaps not even on the same grounds. Elders could be compensated for their time, and the proceeds used to help defray the cost of their care.

Somehow, a way should be found to utilize the free time, culutural knowledge, and historical background of our elders in socializing our youth. Very young children love to please elderly people, and elderly people love to spend time with very young children. When these two populations are allowed to interact, the results are often far more positive than when either interacts with any other age group. It is a waste to keep them segregated.